Linde to showcase technology to improve productivity and lower costs for steel processing

Trade News

Murray Hill, New Jersey, U.S., 30 April 2012 – Linde North America will be highlighting several of its proven technologies to help steelmakers increase productivity and lower costs at the AISTech 2012 Conference to be held at The Georgia Congress Center, Atlanta, Georgia, May 7-10.

Linde North America, a member of The Linde Group, will be showcasing its REBOX® technical solutions for steel reheating, REBOX® DFI oxyfuel solutions for continuous annealing furnaces, and its OXYGON® flameless oxyfuel technology for ladle and preheating and drying.

Tony Palermo, metallurgy program manager for Linde North America, said, "Linde technologies offer many steelmakers an opportunity to reduce costs, optimize their productivity, and minimize environmental impact. Linde REBOX technical solutions for steel reheating enable reduced cycle times, fuel consumption, and NOx emissions while increasing operational flexibility. The Linde REBOX DFI for direct fuel impingement can deliver up to 30 per cent more galvanizing capacity with no extension of furnace length, while providing cleaner strip before galvanizing. And the Linde OXYGON ladle preheating system can reduce heating cycles by 25 per cent and fuel consumption by as much as 50 per cent."

Palermo has also co-authored a paper that will be presented at the conference with two Linde European customers. The paper, entitled, Flameless Oxyfuel Slab Reheating Experiences, will be presented on Monday, May 7, at 9:30 am in the "Hot Sheet Rolling/Energy & Utilities - Fuel for Thought" session in Building A - Level Four Concourse A403. The results from flameless oxyfuel installations in several steel continuous reheat furnaces, ranging in throughput rates from 40 to 340 tons/hour will be discussed.

"Typically, these performance enhancement systems can be largely installed during normal operating hours with minimal downtime required, resulting in little or no lost production," Palermo said. "In the case of REBOX® HLL technology, downtime for installation may be as short as one day, operational risk is minimized, and there is wide flexibility in the selection of operating techniques because the operating practices are completely reversible."

Visit booth #219 at the exhibition and meet with the Linde experts who have first-hand knowledge of these installations and Linde’s complete line of REBOX and OXYGON technologies.

About The Linde GroupLinde North America is a member of The Linde Group, a world-leading gases and engineering company with around 50,500 employees in more than 100 countries worldwide. In the 2011 financial year, it achieved sales of EUR 13.787 bn (USD 18.1 billion). The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards long-term profitable growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business with forward-looking products and services. Linde acts responsibly towards its shareholders, business partners, employees, society and the environment – in every one of its business areas, regions and locations across the globe. The Group is committed to technologies and products that unite the goals of customer value and sustainable development.